Coming off their best three scores in program history in as many meets, the Gophers gymnastics team finished in fourth place at the Big Ten Championships Saturday evening after scoring 196.725 behind No. 3 Michigan (198.200), No. 12 Michigan State (197.050) and No. 23 Iowa (196.950)

“There were a lot of really great things happening tonight. Unfortunately, we had some struggles on beam that kept us from having the meet we had hoped for,” Gophers head coach Jenny Hansen said. “Certainly, [there were] a lot of highlights and this just gives us an opportunity to reevaluate going into Regionals.”

Fifth-year Lexy Ramler led Minnesota as she finished in second place in the all-around (39.675) while earning a share for the Big Ten Bars and Beam Titles after scoring 9.950s. She rounded out her final Big Ten Championships with a 9.900 on floor and 9.875 on vault.

One of the best gymnasts to come through Minnesota’s program, Ramler, has seven individual Big Ten Championships event titles (two all-around, two bars, three beam). Her seven titles tie for the fourth-most in the conference and tie former Gopher Marie Roethlisberger for first in program history.

“She had a great night,” Hansen said of Ramler. “For her to finish [her career] with a couple more individual Big Ten Championships is much deserved.”

Alongside Ramler’s title shares, sophomore Mya Hooten took home a share of the floor title with a score of 9.950. She closed out her strong performance with another 9.950 on vault and tied her career-high of 9.875 on bars.

Minnesota’s floor team tied Michigan’s for the highest-scoring lineup in the 10-team championships with 49.575, which ties for the fifth-highest total in program history.
All five scoring floor routines scored over 9.900. Outside of Hooten, sophomore Gianna Gerdes scored a career-high 9.925, while Ramler, fifth-year Ona Loper and junior Halle Remlinger earned matching 9.900s.

“Knowing that every [woman] in your lineup can go 9.900, I think just gives them a ton of confidence on that event,” Hansen said of the floor team. “We think we are one of the best floor teams in the country, so that gives us a lot of confidence going into the postseason.”

Loper performed in the all-around alongside Ramler for the Gophers, where she finished in sixth place with 39.375. She matched her floor score of 9.900 on bars while adding 9.850 on vault and 9.725 on beam.

The Gophers’ bars team opened up the meet, scoring 49.525, which ties the third-best score in program history. Four of their five scoring routines earned 9.900 or better.

Outside of Ramler, Loper and Hooten’s scores on bars, fifth-year Hannah Willmarth tied her season-best at 9.900. At the same time, senior Tiarre Sales matched Willmarth and Loper, and Remlinger rounded out the lineup matching Hooten with 9.875, which ties her career-best.

With the beam team back to form in recent weeks, they struggled outside of Ramler’s conference-winning routine, totaling 48.225.

The total marks their second-lowest team score this season. Three routines scored in the 9.7s (sophomore Emily Koch, Loper, and senior Abbie Nylin), while two routines (Gerdes and Sales) saw mishaps that earned 9.900 and 8.675 from the judges.

Minnesota’s vault team closed out the meet as they collectively scored 49.400. Senior Maddie Quarles and Gerdes tallied 9.900 and 9.825 outside of the routines from Hooten, Loper and Ramler.

The Gophers will find out where they will compete when the NCAA Selection Show announces early next week which teams will compete and where for NCAA Regionals.

“We still have some opportunity to grow,” Hansen said. “We’ll put them in more pressure situations. We might be testing out different lineups. We’ll put our best team forward when it comes around to Regionals.”

Before puck drop between the No. 2/3 Gophers and No. 4 Michigan, fans waited in some of the longest lines the arena has seen. Minutes before the puck dropped the 10,774 fans in the stands, which comes at an all-time record at 3M Arena at Mariucci, were erupting as loud as ever for the home team.

However, the loudness of the crowd proved not enough to help fuel Minnesota to victory as they fell in the Big Ten Championship to the Wolverines 4-1 at home Saturday evening.

“It was unbelievable and so cool to see that many people come out, especially the student section,” senior co-captain Sammy Walker said. “It was awesome to see and fun to play in front of.”

Minnesota junior Jaxon Nelson opened up the scoring just 32 seconds into the game as he roofed a breakaway shot into the back of the net. Immediately, the crowd was going bonkers, and it seemed like Minnesota would thrive behind all the energy in the building. But Michigan had other plans for the next 59:27.

Michigan responded in less than a minute, scoring 45 seconds later as Olympian Brendan Brisson beat junior goaltender Justen Close point-blank from just outside the goal crease to equalize the game at 1-1.

The Gophers would not see a lead the rest of the game as Michigan took control.

Much of the first period, the game was an intense back-and-forth, as both teams saw opportune chances. But Michigan took their first lead of the game with 2:09 remaining in the first period as Mackie Samoskevich finished a rush off with a sharp-angle shot to make it 2-1 Wolverines.

Michigan extended their lead to 4-1 after adding two goals in a bruising, chippy second period, with goals coming from Dylan Duke at even strength and Kent Johnson on the man advantage.

“We weren’t being hard and weren’t getting pucks in their end,” junior Jackson LaCombe said of Minnesota’s second period. “We were playing a lot in the d-zone, which you don’t want to do.”

As the game progressed, the Gophers faithful stayed loud despite the scoreboard reading 4-1 at the end of the middle frame of play, partly because they believed the refs missed penalties.

With the Gophers attempting to mount a comeback, the referees whistled down freshman Aaron Huglen for goaltender interference 6:33 into the final period of play.

Twenty-seven seconds later, chaos broke loose in Mariucci. Nelson received a five-minute major for hitting from behind and a game misconduct. Almost immediately, a variety of beverages were thrown onto the ice from fans livid with the harsh call. The volleys stopped only when the PA announcer warned a delay of game penalty would be assessed to Minnesota if the fans continued. The crowd remained ornery towards the officials all night, launching several rounds of chants against them.

With everything seemingly destined to continue going sideways, Minnesota killed Michigan’s 5-3 man advantage that lasted 1:33—then held the Wolverines from scoring on their 5-4 power-play that continued for another 3:27.

The Gophers didn’t give up until the final buzzer sounded as freshman Matthew Knies scored two power-play goals. One came on a 6-3 man advantage with 57.7 seconds remaining, the other on a 6-4 man advantage with 4.7 seconds remaining. His eleventh and twelfth goals cut Minnesota’s deficit to 4-3 and helped the crowd return to its loud form, this time positively.

As the final horn sounded, it marked Minnesota’s first game that they have dropped since Jan. 29 as their nine-game winning streak comes to a close.

“If we could have got a second goal [earlier], we could have got back in the game. We really believe that,” Gophers head coach Bob Motzko said. “That was the only disappointing thing, [the crowd] was ready to go tonight. We teased them with the first [goal] and we never got the second one [quick enough].”

Although they lost, Minnesota’s season is not yet over. They will surely be in the NCAA tournament as the Selection Show takes place on Sunday, March 20, at 5:30 p.m. On ESPNU.

In her sixth and final season and her last collegiate meet with the Gophers, redshirt fifth-year Sarah Bacon repeated as the 3-meter springboard champion at the NCAA Championships Friday night to claim the fifth individual title of her career.

Bacon will go down as one of the greatest divers in Minnesota’s program history and the sport’s history. Her accolades include but are not limited to three titles on the 1-meter and two on the 3-meter.

“It’s pretty crazy,” Bacon said when asked about her five titles on the ESPN broadcast. “I don’t know if that’ll sink in for a while. Right now, I’m just excited. I want to enjoy what we just accomplished in that pool with my coach tonight and my family.”

The top seed through the prelims, Bacon led the finals through the first three rounds. She fell back into second place by 2.1 points after the fourth round. However, she regained the lead heading into her sixth and final dive.

To cement her back-to-back title, Bacon needed to score 65.95 or higher on her final dive. She blew that score out of the water as she earned 78.00 to finish with a title-winning score of 409.25.

“Sarah always does a great job on the boards,” Gophers associate head coach Stacy Busack said. “Her last dive as a Gopher was a thing of beauty and capped off one of the greatest NCAA diving careers with another national title.”

With the No. 2/3 Gophers preparing for Saturday’s 2021-2022 Big Ten Championship title game against No. 4 Michigan, Minnesota will go into the finale after making splashes in the Big Ten postseason honors that the conference announced Tuesday.

The Gophers took home three of the five “of the year” awards as the conference announced head coach Bob Motzko as the Big Ten Coach of the Year, junior co-captain Ben Meyers as the Big Ten Player of the Year and sophomore Brock Faber as the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year.

“Our guys have just rolled with any punch that got thrown at them, they just roll with it and keep going,” Motzko said to the Big Ten Network. “It’s just been an excellent group of young men to be around. You just count your blessings when you have seasons like this with leadership like this and the group of kids we have.”

The Big Ten Coach of the Year honors comes in as Motzko’s second in his four seasons with the Gophers. It also marks his sixth career conference coach of the year honor as he won the award twice in the WCHA and two more in the NCHC.

Through a rollercoaster of a 2021-2022 season, Motzko guided the Gophers to a 23-11 (18-6 Big Ten) regular-season record to win the conference’s regular-season title.

Despite battling injuries in the first half of the season and missing games in the second half due to the Olympics, Meyers continued to show persistence en route to the conference naming him the Big Ten Player of the Year. He is the third Minnesota men’s hockey player to achieve this feat alongside Adam Wilcox and Tyler Sheehy.

Also earning a spot on the All-Big Ten First Team, Meyers ranks No. 1 in goals (16) and points (36) for the Gophers, both coming in as career-highs. He has 11 multi-point performances this season, as 10 of his 36 points have come in his most recent four games since returning from Beijing.

Leading a defense that currently ranks in the top-10 nationally in goals against per game, the conference announced Faber as the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. The Los Angeles Kings prospect is the third Gophers men’s hockey defender to earn this accolade behind Mike Reilly and Jake Bischoff.

Faber, alongside Meyers, earned a spot on the All-Big Ten First Team. He has career-highs in goals (2) and points (13) in 28 games this season.
Outside of these honors, the conference named junior Jackson LaCombe and freshman Matthew Knies to the All-Big Ten Second Team, while Knies also unanimously earned a spot on the All-Big Ten Freshman Team.

Knies and LaCombe rank tied for No. 3 in points on the team with 27 alongside senior co-captain Sammy Walker, who received an All-Big Ten Honorable Mention.

Senior Blake McLaughlin and junior goaltender Justen Close joined Walker as All-Big Ten Honorable Mentions to close out the day full of commendation for the Gophers.

Looking to make their second-consecutive Big Ten Championship game, Minnesota’s co-captains helped them get there as they fueled the No. 2 Gophers men’s hockey team to a 3-2 win over Penn State Saturday evening.

“We had a seven-minute stretch in the first period where we were playing good hockey. Then, we completely unplugged ourselves, and we survived. Let’s hope this was our clunker,” Gophers head coach Bob Motzko said. “We found a way, got outstanding goaltending from Justen [Close]…we didn’t have many chances, we needed one, and we got it. We survived it.”

Down the stretch where the Gophers have won nine-straight games, senior co-captain Sammy Walker continues to show up in big moments for Minnesota.

With the clock showing a 2-2 score with under three minutes remaining in the game, Walker changed that by scoring his fourth game-winning goal this season.

Just moments before burying the go-ahead goal, Walker received a cross-crease pass from senior Blake McLaughlin but couldn’t connect to create a shot on goal. Then as Penn State started to make their way out of the zone, junior Bryce Brodzinski made a keen poke check to keep the puck in the offensive zone just inside the blue line.

Brodzinski fed a pass to a wide-open McLaughlin. McLaughlin sent another cross-crease pass to Walker, and the second time around, he buried it into the back of the net to give the Gophers a 3-2 lead with 2:39 remaining in the contest.

“Blake put it right on my tape. I missed the one earlier, so I made sure that one went in,” Walker said. “I know if I just move my feet, [Blake’s] going to give it to me. I just tried to get open and he does what he does best, [he] put it right on my tape.”

Ever since he made his return from competing for Team USA in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, junior co-captain Ben Meyers has been on a tear for the Gophers. He has recorded a multi-point performance in every game since rejoining the team on Feb. 19.

Meyers continued that tear as he opened up the scoring for Minnesota after deflecting junior Ryan Johnson’s shot from the blue line into the back of the net with 7:56 remaining in the first period. He leads the Gophers with 16 goals this season, of which five have come in his last four games.

But the Olympian was not done. He caused Penn State’s Simon Mack to take a holding penalty with 1.2 seconds left in the opening frame. Then, as the Gophers’ power play continued into the second period, he set up junior Jackson LaCombe, who fired home his third goal this season from the blueline to extend Minnesota’s lead to 2-0 just 27 seconds into the middle frame.

However, Penn State didn’t quit while Minnesota was in the driver’s seat. Christian Sarlo fed a pass to Tyler Paquette to put him on a breakaway, where he roofed a shot into the back of the net to cut into the Gophers’ lead at 2-1 with 5:02 remaining in the second period.

Fifty seconds later, with Penn State clawing back, freshman Tristan Broz was penalized by the referees for roughing after the whistle, giving the Nittany Lions their first man advantage of the evening, which they converted.

Penn State’s Dylan Lugris received a pass above the half-wall from Connor MacEachern and buried the puck from a tough angle to equalize the game at 2-2 with 2:25 remaining in the middle frame.

Once Penn State equalized the game, the Gophers hunkered down and fought back to punch their ticket to the Big Ten Championship, behind Close’s 28-save performance. Minnesota will host No. 4 Michigan at 3M Arena at Mariucci on Saturday, March 19, at 7 p.m.

“We’re excited. Obviously, they’re a great team with a lot of good players,” LaCombe said. “It’s going to be a great game.”

In their regular-season finale, the No. 8 Gophers scored 197.850, which ties their second-highest score in program history, en route to dominating Utah State (195.200), Temple (193.625) and Long Island (193.200) to finish first in the quad meet in front of a record attendance of 4,240 at Maturi Pavilion.

“We’re just so proud of the team. We went into this meet knowing there would be a lot of excitement and energy. The crowd certainly brought that for us tonight. I think they did a good job of handling that and the emotions that come along with senior night,” Gophers head coach Jenny Hansen said. “We’re continuing to get better in different areas. I feel like we’re making progress each and every week and just at the right time.”

Minnesota saw strong team performances from every lineup, highlighted by their floor team that put on a show and scored the highest total ever recorded in program history at 49.750 as all five of their scoring routines earned at least 9.900.

The floor team, which closed out the meet, was led by sophomore Mya Hooten, who scored her third perfect 10 this season and fourth of her career to win the event title. There was a trio of 9.950s from fifth-years Lexy Ramler and Ona Loper, and junior Halle Remlinger. Loper tied her career-high score and Remlinger earned her career-best. Sophomore Gianna Gerdes rounded out the rotation tying her career-high of 9.900.

“We just had so much fun out there today. We just continue to climb and build our confidence,” Ramler said of the floor team.

Loper and Ramler’s last collegiate meet at the Pav helped Minnesota sweep all the event titles as the duo tied for the all-around title at 39.650. Loper won the vault title (9.925), while she and Ramler shared the bars title (9.900) with Long Island’s Mara Titarsolej. Ramler also won the beam title after earning 9.950.

The vault team set the tone early at the Pav as four of their five routines scored over 9.850 en route to a collective total of 49.300, helping Minnesota to ride their momentum throughout the remainder of the meet.

Rotations two and three for the Gophers saw the bars and beam teams perform as they totaled 49.425 and 49.375, respectively. All five scoring bars routines scored at least 9.875, while four scoring beam routines earned at least 9.875.

Hooten tied her career-best on bars at 9.875, while Gerdes tied her career-high on beam from March 4 at 9.875.

Just moments after competing officially with the bars team, Ramler performed her coined “Ramler” bars routine in exhibition for the first time in her Gophers collegiate career.

The “Ramler” is an extremely difficult routine, highlighted by a full-twisting-toe-on Shaposhnikova. After falling off the bars in warmups attempting her routine, Ramler pulled off the routine with no major faults to unofficially score 9.825, electrifying the crowd.

“It felt awesome. I was super excited to do it in front of the Pav. I could hear the roar of the crowd,” Ramler said. ”I had a smile on my face the entire time [during the routine]. That honestly made my senior night just to be able to do that skill in front of my home crowd. That was something that I will forever remember.”

With their regular-season complete, Minnesota will compete next in the Big Ten Championships on Saturday, March 19.

The Gophers are clicking at a perfect time as their last three meets have been their highest-scoring team totals in program history.

“[We feel] very good. We came a long way from the first couple of meets and I think we finally got it down. We’ve been working really hard in the gym,” Hooten said. “We are so excited [for Big Tens]. We’re so ready.”

Although the No. 9 Gophers saw strong team performances from each of their lineups for a second consecutive meet, their efforts fell short against No. 4 Utah Friday evening
as they lost by a score of 198.575-197.850. The team total marks the second-highest score in program history behind the 198.025 Minnesota set on Feb. 25.

“It was so much fun. This was an environment that we were really looking forward to competing in. Utah is a perennial powerhouse. Just the environment, the energy was fantastic,” Gophers head coach Jenny Hansen said. “I’m just so proud of the way the team rose to the occasion, second-highest score in school history. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

Fifth-year Ona Loper led the way for Minnesota as she scored 39.675. Her best score of the evening came on vault at 9.950, while she tied her career-high on beam (9.925).

Loper’s all-around score of 39.675 earned her a share of the all-around title with Utah’s Grace McCallum, a member of Team USA’s 2020 Olympic Gymnastics squad that won a silver team medal.

Loper’s fifth-year counterpart in Lexy Ramler also highly contributed to Minnesota’s high team score as she totaled 39.575 in the all-around competition, highlighted by a 9.950 on beam.

The Gophers’ floor team was their best lineup of the evening as they produced 49.550 as four routines scored at least 9.900. Ramler, junior Halle Remlinger and sophomore Mya Hooten earned matching 9.925s, marking the third-consecutive meet Remlinger has tied her career-high. Loper and sophomore Gianna Gerdes rounded out the rotation, scoring 9.900 and 9.875, respectively.

The only Minnesota lineup that defeated a Red Rock lineup was the vault team, as they totaled 49.450, the second-highest score they have recorded this season. Hooten highlighted the lineup as she tied her career-best of 9.975 to win the event title, while sophomore Emily Koch earned her career-high after scoring 9.875.

The Gophers’ beam team closed things out and showed out for a second-consecutive meet as they scored a season-best 49.475.

Outside of Loper and Ramler, a few highlight routines from the beam team came from senior Tiarre Sales, who scored 9.900, and Gerdes as she recorded 9.875, a career-high.

“We do feel like everything is starting to click. The last two weeks, our beam team has been amazing and exactly as we had hoped they would be,” Hansen said of the beam team that is striding back to form. “They didn’t look nervous. They did exactly what they’ve been doing in practice…that’s exactly what we wanted from them, especially on that last event.”

The bars team totaled 49.375 to round out the Gophers’ meet, highlighted by Sales’ 9.925, which is her season-best and ties her career-high.

Minnesota’s National Qualifying Score (NQS) will increase due to the 197.850 team score on the road. The NQS takes the average of each team’s best five scores outside their highest, where three of those have to be from away meets.

As a result, Minnesota will drop the 196.225 team total they scored in a tri-meet on the road against Maryland and Pittsburgh from their NQS.

“It’s huge for us. We get to drop a 196.225 and count this score instead,” Hansen said. “This is exactly what we needed for our team and going forward. The confidence we gained from a performance like this, especially on the road in an environment that was so loud, was so much fun…the confidence we gained from this today is immeasurable.”

In control of their destiny with a chance to cement their place atop the conference standings, No. 4 Minnesota did just that. They swept Wisconsin Saturday evening after dominating the Badgers in an 8-0 victory on senior night in their regular-season finale to win the 2021-2022 Big Ten Regular-Season Title.

The Gophers, who swept the Badgers en route to their eighth-straight win that marked their longest win streak of the regular season, are the Big Ten Regular-Season Champions for the first time under head coach Bob Motzko and the first time since the 2016-2017 season.

“We were just a consistent hockey team from the start of the year and through. A lot of things happened to us and nothing fazed us,” Motzko said. “We kept getting better all season long…and everyone’s contributed. I think that’s another great thing we got going.”

Before the halfway mark of the opening frame, Wisconsin scored a goal 7:37 into the first period. However, the referees disallowed the goal due to goaltender interference on junior Justen Close. Then, Minnesota came alive as their rout against Wisconsin was on as all eight of their goals came from eight different skaters.

“[Close] was interfered with and then we score right after, so it was a huge change,” Motzko said. “What an unbelievable crowd. The student section was terrific. A little bit of an old feel in the building this weekend. Gopher fans are still there. They aren’t going anywhere.”

After recording his first career hat trick in Friday night’s win, junior co-captain Ben Meyers followed that by scoring his team-leading fourth game-winning goal this season 9:04 into the first period. He also added a primary assist to finish the weekend with five points.

Then, just 21 seconds after Meyers’ opening tally, freshman Tristan Broz found open space in the slot to receive a pass from junior Jackson LaCombe and buried the puck into the back of the net to quickly extend Minnesota’s lead to 2-0.

Wisconsin’s Roman Ahcan received a five-minute major for boarding senior co-captain Sammy Walker as the Badgers tried to push back in the second. Then, junior Bryce Brodzinski received a minor penalty for cross-checking Ahcan, so the Gophers earned a three-minute power play after two minutes of 4-on-4 action.
Flying out of the box, Brodzinski put Minnesota up 3-0 as he scored his fourth power-play goal this season just 18 seconds after his penalty ended.

Walker took a penalty near the end of the second period. Then, like Brodzinski, he scored 21 seconds after being released from the box to tie his career-high in goals (13) and extend Minnesota’s lead to 4-0 early in the third period.

The Gophers went on to add four goals in the last 7:04 of the game from sophomore Mike Koster, freshmen Matthew Knies and Rhett Pitlick, and senior Grant Cruikshank as they all scored in the third period. Minnesota outscored the Badgers 13-0 in the series.

Close recorded his second career shutout after making 24 saves, both of which came this weekend to finish the regular season with an 11-3-0 record between the pipes.

Led by Broz, who tallied three points en route to his first career multi-point performance, five skaters recorded multi-point games in the rout as 16 skaters also recorded at least one point.

“I feel like we’re playing really good team hockey right now,” Close said. “[The] crowd was awesome. It was great to see a packed house…I think our guys feed off of that a lot.”

Through a rollercoaster of a season, Minnesota’s hot streak down the stretch propelled them to a regular-season record of 23-11 as their depth fueled them over that span.

With the win, the Gophers have earned a first-round bye in the Big Ten tournament.

“This is a fun team. We got a good group and we’re deep,” Walker said. “We just got to keep the train rolling [and] keep playing the right way.”

Throughout the 2021-2022 season, junior Jonny Sorenson has played on various lines, skated in games as the extra skater, and has even been a healthy scratch finding himself out of the lineup.

With junior Jaxon Nelson and freshman Matthew Knies making their return to the forward corps for Minnesota, Sorenson found himself in the extra skater slot in Friday’s matchup against Wisconsin. However, he still made his mark on the game as he scored the game’s opening goal 6:08 into the first period en route to a Gophers’ 5-0 victory over the Badgers in front of an electrifying crowd that remained loud all night long at 3M Arena at Mariucci.

“Wisconsin played really good early in the game. Put a lot of pressure on us,” Gophers head coach Bob Motzko said. “The first period, it was a battle for us to get out of it. [In] the second period, we got off our game…we regrouped in the third period, we shortened our shifts, and really got on top of our game.”

As the No. 4 Gophers pounced the Badgers, junior Justen Close backstopped the Gophers to victory after recording 20 saves to earn his first career shutout and 10th win between the pipes this season.

Close’s first-career shutout comes at a crucial time as the Gophers (22-11) have sprung into first place in the Big Ten standings with 52 points, surpassing Michigan (51) as Minnesota extended their win streak to seven.

“[Close’s] got a lot of heart. He’s a really good goalie. All the boys love him. We love playing for him. It was awesome,” Nelson said of Close’s performance between the pipes.

It was junior co-captain Ben Meyers’ show in the third period. He scored three goals in the final frame en route to recording his fourth multi-goal game of the season and first career hat trick to help cement Minnesota’s victory. He leads the team with 14 goals and 32 points this season. Since returning from Beijing, he has had three goals and three assists in two games.

“[Ben] is a big part of our team and obviously a great leader,” Nelson said. “We have needed him throughout the whole season and he’s been there for us.”
After missing 13 games due to injury, Nelson made his return to the lineup and made his presence felt, impacting both sides of Minnesota’s special teams. He helped the team’s penalty kill go a perfect 2-2 on the night in a span of 5:18 in the second period.

Then, when the Gophers earned their third and final power play of the night with 36.6 remaining in the middle frame, he deflected junior Jackson LaCombe’s shot into the back of the night just 6.9 seconds later to extend their lead to 2-0 heading into the second intermission.

“It’s huge for [Nelson],” Meyers said of Nelson scoring in his return to the lineup. “We’re gonna need him a lot down the stretch, so for him to get that first one under his belt and just welcome him back into our lineup, everybody’s happy for him.”

While LaCombe added the primary assist on Nelson’s tally, he also added a secondary assist on Meyers’ third goal of the night to earn his sixth multi-point game this season. His two assists have throttled him to a career-high 23 points this season.

Alongside LaCombe, sophomores Mike Koster (two assists) and Mason Nevers (two assists) each recorded multi-point nights for the Gophers.

With the win and one game remaining this season, the Gophers control their destiny in winning the Big Ten regular-season title. It all comes down to Saturday night when they face off against the Badgers in their season-finale at 7 p.m. at 3M Arena at Mariucci.

“[We] control our destiny. We just got to worry about how we play the game [Saturday],” Motzko said. “It’s all on how we play and how we prepare ourselves to play.”

Fueled by dominating performances from every lineup Friday evening, the No. 8 Gophers gymnastics team totaled 198.025 to defeat No. 13 Iowa (196.375), marking the first time in program history Minnesota has eclipsed 198 points as a team.

“I’m just so proud of the way we responded. We had a couple of meets [recently] that we weren’t ourselves. We talked a lot as a team and we really focused on what we could control,” said Gophers head coach Jenny Hansen, who recorded her 150th career win and 50th Big Ten win with the victory. “I feel like they did an excellent job of not thinking about anything else, except just being aggressive and doing their routines. They did exactly that tonight. It was so fun to see them from start to finish be aggressive and have fun.”

Most notably, fifth-year Lexy Ramler continues to show the world why she ranks No. 1 in the collegiate scene in the all-around as she won the title after scoring 39.775 to tie her third-best score in program history. The total also marks her second-best all-around score this season.

Ramler recorded a perfect 10 on beam for the fourth time in her career to win the event title. The Minnesota veteran also took home the bars title after scoring 9.950. She rounded out her all-around performance by adding 9.950 on floor and 9.875 on vault.

For the second time this season on floor, sophomore Mya Hooten achieved a perfect 10 to earn the event title and cement the 198 point mark. She also helped the Gophers floor team total 49.650, which marked their third-highest vault team score in program history.

Before [going], the crowd was screaming. I was like, ‘I got this. This [routine] is going to be so fun.’” Hooten said. It’s just so much fun to be out there and be in front of the big crowd and my team.”

Outside of her perfection on floor, Hooten tallied a career-high 9.975 on vault to win the event title. She rounded out her evening with a 9.875 on bars, which ties her career-best.

Alongside Ramler’s title-winning performance, her fifth-year counterpart Ona Loper had a bounce-back meet for the Gophers as she tallied 39.625 in the all-around competition. Along the way, she tied her season-best on beam, scoring 9.900.

“To see her bounce back means so much,” Ramler said of Loper. “Honestly, for me personally, competing with her every single time for this last year means so much. There’s not a lot of words to describe it.”

After the beam team produced their worst two-team totals this season in Minnesota’s past two meets, they returned to form to score 49.425, their highest team this season.

Senior Tiarre Sales, who made her season debut on beam on Feb. 19, scored a season-best 9.875 on beam outside of Ramler’s perfect 10 and Loper tying her season-best. Sophomores Emily Koch and Gianna Gerdes rounded out the lineup, producing 9.850 and 9.800, respectively.

“We’ve been doing a lot more pressure sets,” Hansen said of helping the beam team build their confidence. “And it works. They’re nervous and they’re feeling those jitters…[what] we’ve really been talking to them about is just going aggressive.”

The vault team opened up the meet for the Gophers producing their second-highest team score this season of 49.400. Joining Hooten, sophomore Gianna Gerdes also recorded her career-best en route to earning 9.875 from the judges.

Then the Minnesota bars team followed the vault team’s strong start by totaling 49.550, which is their second-highest score in program history. Fifth-year Hannah Willmarth tallied her season-best of 9.900 and junior Halle Remlinger recorded her career-high at 9.875.

The floor team closed out the historic night for the Gophers. In the apparatus, Remlinger tied her career-best of 9.925 as all five of the scoring routines for Minnesota scored at least 9.850.

“I think it’s super important to really go out there being super confident and just going after it,” Ramler said of the vault team, who set the tone for the rest of the meet. “Then, we snowballed and continued that throughout the rest of the night to finish with a 198.”